Fever: How Tu Youyou Used Traditional Chinese Medicine to Find a Cure for Malaria

by Darcy Pattison, Peter Willis (Illustrator)

People were dying! Malaria is a deadly mosquito-borne disease that causes fevers, chills and often death. In 1969, the People's Republic of China created a task force to find a cure.

Working in the 1970s, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou reviewed the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) scrolls for ideas on where to start her research. She found 640 traditional treatments, and methodically started extracting compounds and testing them against malaria. Would any of them work?

Courage, resilience, and perseverance--follow the struggles of this Nobel Prize scientist as she works to find a cure to malaria.

Genres: Science, Picture Books, Childrens, Medicine

34 pages, Hardcover

Published March 8, 2022

About the author

DARCY PATTISON (www.darcypattison.com) is published in ten languages.

Children’s book author Darcy Pattison writes award-winning fiction and non-fiction books for children. Her works have received starred PW, Kirkus, and BCCB reviews. Awards include the Irma Black Honor award, five NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books, Eureka! Nonfiction Honor book, Junior Library Guild selections, and NCTE Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts. She’s the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for her work in children’s literature.

Reviews

[Ainun Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartiest gratitude to Edelweiss for the review copy.

'Fever: How Tu Youyou Used Traditional Chinese Medicine to Find a Cure for Malaria' is an inspiring story about not giving up and making sacrifices for greater good. The story is told in an easily understandable way and the illustrations are beautiful and attractive! It offers an insight into how Youyou worked relentlessly to put an end to a disease that was killing millions of people around the world. It will captivate readers of all ages, especially for those who want to be physician, scientist and researcher in future. Highly recomended!

[Grace Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this topic fascinating! I had no idea that the current vaccine for malaria came from traditional Chinese medicine. The sheer amount of work that the scientists put into this is astounding.
I, also, found the author notes' helpful. (I had didn't know that DDT came from research into getting rid of mosquitoes, and that the person who created it got the Nobel Prize- seeing how much damage that poison has done to animals...)
I can't say that I love the illustrations on this set of books, but the topics are terrific. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how Tu Youyou had enough faith in Chinese Medicine to try over and over again to find a cure for malaria through it's ancient recipes and recommendations. How thankful we all are to God who put plants here on earth to help heal us. And how thankful we are for all those who through the ages recorded their wisdom so others could be healed. And how thankful we are to those who don't give up on what they feel is right.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and informative picture book about a Chinese scientist who used herbal medicine to cure Malaria. Her work takes many years, and many attempts before success. A good example of the scientific method and perseverance.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly informative!

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Chinese female scientist finds a great drug for malaria using Chinese traditional medicine.

[James Biser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simple, but it recounts something great that happened in China. In 1969, Malaria was killing many people in the country. An individual named Tu Youyou was able to concentrate some chemicals from herbs in such a way that it cured the disease. She won the Nobel Prize.